Road related quad bike and side by side vehicle casualties

Quad bike vehicle related casualties continue to be a leading contributor in regards to fatal and serious injuries occurring in Australian rural areas, particularly on farms. Side by Side Vehicle (SSV) incidents also contribute to rural casualties albeit to a much lesser extent. Despite significant attention, little progress has been made in reducing their incidents or severity, and indeed they appear to be increasing. An investigation of closed cases in the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) for the period 2000 to 2012 identified 141 fatal cases. Of these sixteen or around 11% of all fatalities involved a fatality on a public road. Little is known about the characteristics of these public road related fatalities. The authors are not aware of any publications regarding Australian casualties. However, some data regarding Victorian road related Quad bike and SSV serious injuries have been published. Data has been collected for NSW and other states by two of the authors. In some countries, such as Sweden and parts of the USA, such vehicles are permitted to travel on public roads. A question that has arisen for Australian regulators is whether these vehicles should be permitted to travel on Australian roads and if so under what circumstances. In order to understand the risk and form a road safety policy position regarding these vehicles it is important know what the magnitude of the problem is and how people are being injured and killed in the road environment. This paper presents an overview of the statistical data and characteristics of the road related Quad bike and SSV crashes in Australia. Recommendations concerning these vehicles roadworthiness are also presented.

• Record URL:
  http://acrs.org.au/publications/conference-papers/database/
• Authors:
  • Grzebieta, R H
  • Rechnitzer, G
  • McIntosh, A S
  • Simmons, K
  • Mitchell, R
  • Patton, D
• Conference:
  • Australasian Road Safety Research Policing Education Conference, 2014, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Publication Date: 2014-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 11p
• Monograph Title: Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference, 12-14 November 2014, Melbourne, Australia

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: All terrain vehicles; Crash analysis; Four wheel drive; Motorcycles; Rural areas; Types of roads by network; Vehicle design; Vehicles
• Uncontrolled Terms: International comparison; Safe systems (vehicles)
• Geographic Terms: Australia
• ATRI Terms: Crash analysis; International comparison; Off road vehicle; Road network; Vehicle design
• ITRD Terms: 1661: Accident prevention; 9011: Design (overall design)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01563012
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: May 15 2015 12:18PM